LI Doctor Pleads Guilty To Medicare Fraud Scheme: DOJ

GREAT NECK, NY — A doctor from Great Neck pleaded guilty Monday in a health care fraud case that cost the U.S. government millions of dollars.

Morris Barnard, 58, billed Medicare more than $3 million for colonoscopy and gastroenterological procedures that were never performed, between October 2015 and February 2020.

Most of these billings were rendered to disabled beneficiaries who were living in group homes, according to federal prosecutors. Medicare reimbursed about $1.4 million of those claims.

"By claiming to render services to disabled and other vulnerable patients, Dr. Barnard not only pocketed taxpayer funds that were intended to help beneficiaries in need, he also betrayed his oath for profit," said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Patch reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York for more information, but did not receive a comment in time for publication.

This article will be updated with more information as it comes.